Creston Family Place: a Mom's Story of CAPC Support During Her Child's Illness

Photo Credit: Unsplash User Danielle MacInnes

One of the great strengths of CAPC is its capacity to enable participants to receive support and education through a relational model that can adapt to help families cope during challenging circumstances. A mom who has attended Creston Family Place shares a story of the support she received through the CAPC program when serious illness struck one of her children.

She writes...

"I have three children, a daughter aged 8, and two sons aged 6 and 1. Throughout the years I have been a very active participant in CAPC or as I like to call it “Family Place”. I first started going when my first child was born. I enjoyed meeting other moms, that eventually became friends, and getting their advice on certain questions I had. Vicky and the other coordinators were always so friendly and helpful, soon I considered them to be friends as well.

My second child was born 20 months after my first and I found it difficult trying to raise my one-and-a-half-year-old and a cranky newborn. Family Place became my sane house, somewhere I would go to let others take my cranky baby (although he always slept in others’ arms) and I could enjoy talking with other adults while giving my daughter the time she deserved. I NEEDED Family Place. It was my something to look forward to throughout the week.

When my baby boy was just six months and my daughter was just over two, my daughter was diagnosed with leukemia. Our busy life became complicated. As we were in Calgary and dealing with needles and chemotherapy, the Family Place here was making my daughter a scrapbook with pictures of all her friends and encouraging words to help her get through. I felt blessed to have such a wonderful group thinking of us in our time of need. How lucky were we to have so many people that cared. When we did get to come back to Creston, in between our treatments, my daughter was not allowed to be in big crowds. We would play on the playground by the Family Place and Vicky would bring my daughter’s snack out to her. It made her feel special and included. Lot of times her good friend would skip out of the program and come play with her as well. At that time, I felt alone in my situation and jealous of all the other moms that had a normal life. Even though we never went through the Family Place doors, Vicky still made me feel like I wasn’t alone. She would tell me that she and all the other moms and kids asked about my daughter and me all of the time.

My daughter and son are now in school and I have a new baby boy, who is one year old. We don’t attend Family Place as often as we used to but still really enjoy it when we do. It helps with socializing my one-year-old with other children. I feel now that I am more of an alumni. Someone that can listen to the new mom’s problems and experiences and maybe answer some of their questions. I encourage new moms and new people to the valley to attend Family Place because of all the positive experiences and friendship I have made over the years. I believe Family Place helped me to be the mom I am today. It gave me many of the friendships that I treasure, and helped me through some very difficult times in life. How lucky of a Valley we are to have such a wonderful place and Coordinators that go above and beyond their call of duty."

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This publication was produced by Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors/researchers and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Public Health Agency of Canada or Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House.